But Carter wasn’t alone for the Nets, who lost a 90-78 stinker to the Raptors.

Carter, who had scored 73 points in his previous two games, shot a woeful 4-for-17 from the floor and 4-for-8 from the line, finishing with a season-low 12 points. And that came here at Air Canada Centre, where in three regular season games with the Nets (all victories) he had ripped his former Raptors team for 101 points. But that was then and this was now and now was not very kind to Carter or the Nets.

“I don’t know what was going on. Just one of those games. They did a great job with team defense,” said Carter after the cold-shooting Nets, playing without Richard Jefferson who was back home with a sore right ankle, again failed to achieve their first 3-game winning streak this season.

Kidd scored 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting, with six assists and seven rebounds after triple-doubles in each of the Nets’ previous two games.

“Everybody has to do their part,” Kidd said. “[Carter] just had a bad game. We know he’ll bounce back.”

Bouncing back was something the Nets (9-13) needed after a monster 20-2 Raptor run in the first quarter. Anthony Parker (15 points), Joey Graham (15 points, nine rebounds) and Jorge Garbajosa (10 points) combined for 16 of the 20 during the Toronto surge.

The Nets, led by Hassan Adams with 13 points, repeatedly made runs – and repeatedly were trampled when the Raptors responded. Adding insult to injury, the Raptors (9-14) manhandled the Nets without their best player, Chris Bosh who sat out his fourth straight game with a bone bruise to his left knee.

“We could just never get over the hump,” Carter said. “We fought like hell to get there, they’d hit a big shot, we’d give up a big offensive rebound or two. That’s what hurt us.”

The Nets got within 70-69 using a Lilliputian lineup in the fourth, but coach Lawrence Frank saw the first half as decisive.

“The key really was the first half,” said Frank, bemoaning just three Nets free throws before intermission. “We weren’t as aggressive as we need to be. We weren’t as organized as we need to be. Just doing what we rehearsed.”

Unless they rehearsed being feeble. With a lineup of Kidd, Eddie House (10 points), Antoine Wright (six points, starting for Jefferson), Mikki Moore (10 points) and Marcus Williams (six points), the Nets got it to that one-point spread with 7:32 left.

“We were right in the ballgame,” said House.

Not for long. A Raptors free throw bumped it to two points. Then Carter re-entered . . . and lost the ball.

Carter and Kidd had back-to-back turnovers. Mo Peterson answered Carter’s mistake with a crippling 3-pointer and then T.J. Ford, who had Kidd-like numbers with 17 points, nine rebounds and eight assists (four less than the Nets’ swell 12 assist total as a team), hit a jumper and the Raptors were rolling, 76-69.

“I felt it was time to make some plays,” said Ford, who outscored Kidd 15-3 in the second half, when Kidd shot 0-for-5. “But the main focus was to make it tough for Carter and to make sure when he drives or thinks about driving, that he sees a lot of bodies.”

That he did. And with Carter grossly out of synch after two games in which he was 15-for-31 behind the arc (he was 0-for-6 this time), and with Jefferson back home, the Nets shot 39 percent and looked awful.